Alaska - Anchorage - day 1

Last night we finally got to bed in our hotel in Anchorage 25 hours after we had woken up in England that same day. It was a very long and tiring day travelling with no sleep. When we checked into the hotel they did not have a booking for us from last night, due to an error by the cruise company, and so there was no 'welcome package' giving us details about our Covid tests or details of our excursions. We were too tired to worry about it and went to bed.

We had breakfast, which was very good, and then after breakfast we tried to contact the agent of the cruise company in London but we could not get through. Eventually I sent a rather strong email and asked someone to contact us asap and thankfully they did and then things started falling into place. We went off and had our Covid tests - both negative thank goodness (or else it meant we would not be having our cruise holiday) and then we walked to the meeting place for today’s outing. 

I thought we were doing a hike as that is how it was described but it was actually a small tour (about 10 of us) up along the Turnagain Arm with a short walk through a rain forest in the Chugach National Park near the Portage lake and glacier.The Turnagain Arm is an inlet of water that was explored by Captain Cook in his quest to discover the North West passage, only for him to find it did not go anywhere so he had to turn around and come back again. It is very scenic with lakes and glaciers. 

Anchorage has had the wettest summer in 25 years, but thankfully today the sun came out. However up this valley it was a mixture of sun, clouds and rain. We had an excellent guide who was so knowledgeable and I learnt so much about Alaska, which we really enjoyed. Thereafter we went to the Alaska Conservation Centre where they have a few species of indigenous animals, including three bears. Bears are very difficult to see as they tend to avoid humans, and hikers know to make as much noise as possible as bears will move off if they hear anyone approaching. If you come across a bear and cub and surprise them it’s another story! Even in this conservation centre the bears are in a huge natural habitat enclosure, so it is difficult to see them but we were lucky today and saw all three. In this image you can see two of them playing in the water, they are brother and sister and were rescued as cubs when their mother was shot. We also saw moose (extra), elk, musk ox, porcupines, a bald eagle (that had also been shot in its wing), bison and many elk and reindeer. It was a very interesting visit.

Now we are trying to stay awake before supper. Tomorrow is a very early start, we are going out into the back country by float plane to see bears - I hope we find some!